Device for placing pie trays onto or removing them from alpha traveling oven



Aug. 30, ELLIOTT 1,874,699

DEVICE FOR PLACING PIE TRAYS ONTO 0R REMOVING THEM FROM A TRAVELING OVEN Filed June 9, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY 7 9 9 M 7% oflw 1 e e h S 3 0 0 T N O Y Aug. 30, 1932; l. ELLIOTT;

DEVICE FOR PLACING PIE TRAYS REMOVING TIIEM FROM A TRAVELING OVEN Filed June 9, 1950 a 4 W-El ave:

7 n 1 4 0 a 13 7 "J m mu ,4 a. a. 3 MW 1 L l -7 i 2% T d WW 2 l l l 1 l IIHHHIU gam on ATTORNEY Aug. 30, 1932. ELLIOTT 1,874,699

DEVICE FOR PLACING PIE TRAYS ONTO OR REMOVING THEM FROM A TRAVELING OVEN Filed June 9, 1950 s sheets-sheet 3 1 =2; 1/ ///18i!.\ MOB i Ill 4.6a: l/zdsimi until w I n 9 l TOB A1TORNEY Patented Aug. 30, 1932 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFncE IRWIN ELLIOTT, or HABMON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 wiLLIAivrs OVEN Mrs. 00.,

or new YORK, N. Y-., A coRronAT oNoF NEW'ORK DEVICE son PLACING PIE TRAYS on'roion nniiiovrnq THEM F O A TnAvn INeovEN Application filed "rim 9,

The object of the present invention .is to provide an efficient and simpledevice for an.- tomatically removing pie trays from the conveyor of a traveling oven and the device is also adapted to be used for placing or feeding pie trays onto the conveyor of the traveling oven. Where pies are baked in traveling ovens it' has been common practice to apply or feed the pie trays'manually onto-the conveyor and to manually remove'the trays at the delivery end of the conveyor. In

some cases the trays have been allowed to slide off the delivery end'of the oven conveyor upon an inclined shelf so that the trays were-removed from the conveyor, by gravity. However, this arrangement is unsat sfactory because itvery often causes in ury to the pie crust and where the filler of the pie is'in a mobile or'fl'uid condition as the pie leaves 39 the oven, thetray mustbe kept in a horizon-i:

tal position until the pie is cooled ofli. i

'The object of the present invention-is to provide a device which will automatically remove the pie trays from'the conveyorofthe traveling oven and retain the trays in the same horizontal plane as when they are traveling on theoven conveyor, so that they will not be tilted as they are removed nor are they injured by any operation of the present device.

Another object is to provide an automatic deviceof the character described, which will permit the several conveyors of the traveling oven to be adjusted in their lateral relation to handle pies of different sizes, the presentsde vice being adjustable with the conveyors so" adjustable for Y a metal lining 2. The bottom'wall3 is also that it is readily adapted ordifi'erentsize pie trays. i

While I have shown the invention emiaso. Seria1"No.;4 59,932

veyor of thetraveling oven in horizontal alignment. with the top of'theiconveyorso that the trays and'the pies carried thereon; V are not tipped duringthe operation. of feed-1 ing them onto or removing them from the traveling oven. These operations are car- 1 ried out automatically as will'be pointed out hereinafter.

WhileI have shown-my invention as used, for handling pie trays'it is to be understood together with my apparatus in side elevation showing the same in position-to removethe pie; trays from the ovenwconvey'or, I Figure 2 is a plan view of the device for removing the trays, i V Figure 3 is a front elevation thereof,

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line H of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is a sectional'view' taken onthe line 55 of Figure 4, i

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on-th igure 7 is a sectionalview taken on the line 77 of Figure-1. v 3

In the drawings I have illustrated only such portions of the traveling'oven as are necessary to' teach one application 'of'niy' invention. In Figure 1 I have shown a por-,

gs 'forming part of this ap-j I j tion ofthe top wall lofthe oven structure consisting of an insulating material having of heat insulating vmaterial and the front wallA consists of an insulatinglining 5 'to-; gether] with a metal face plate. Within these wallsis formed the baking'chamber (ii in which the product is baked while being 7 conveyed therethrough bythetraveling con-. f

bodied in a device for removing trays from a traveling oven, it will be apparent that the same device may be used'for feeding thepie trays onto the oven conveyor at the receivingend thereof. The only change required-to apply'the invention to the latter use is to pos tion the same to'face 'theinlet' or feed end of the traveling oven and to reverse the direction of operation of thepropel' lin-g members. In either use of the inventionthe trays 5a are either fedonto. or, removed from, the consists of an'endless chain 7 having relatively long links pivoted to each other'at 8,.the pins on which the links are pivoted being sup:

' plied. with rollers9 which engage in the large teeth. ofa sprocket wheel 10 whichis mount 9 veyor or mova'ble hearth. "The latter con-' 95 ed on across shaft 11. The parts of the conveyor or traveling hearth I shown herein comprlse the rear or delivery end of a conveyor from which the product is delivered at v.theend of a baking operation.

are hearth plates -12 mount- 'ed on the links of the chain'whic'h, when. the

Usually there chain is running in the upper, straight run, he cont guous to each other and form'acontmuous moving hearth to receive and hold as well as to convey the containers having the product therein. I have shown by way of example pie plates 13 ofus'ual form'being conveyed through and from the baking chamber. In the rear wall of the oven there is a doorway 14 through which'the product p is delivered from the conveyor and this may be partly or fully closed by the vertically sliding door 15 commonly used in ovens of the type illustrated.

. l The device for delivering theproduct from the traveling oven is preferably mounted on .a movable rack or frame which is here'shown consistingofa number of vertical pipes 16zsuitably connected with each lother by horizontal end and cross pipes 17 by means of L and Tconnections, as shown in Figure 3. The lower ends of the several vertical pipes 16 are provided with rollers or. casters 18, to facilitate movement of the carriagein front .of the oveny'so that. the present device as a wholemay bebodily moved away from the oven when not in use, or when it is desired to haveclose approach to the oven for clean-- ing and'various other purposes. "The upper' ends of the several vertical pipes 16 are connected with each other by longitudinal beams 19 which 'may be permanently united there- 6 with. I There are supporting plates 20resting and sliding upon'the longitudinal vbeams Y19 and each of these plates carries one of the units of a plate removing device.

I ing the plate 2O invarious positions of "ad:

' by may be adjusted laterallyor along the.

i w beams19 to vary the spacing of the several 22in r the horizontal tudinal beam19 of therack :and the wingn-utonthis bolt is adapted toengage against Each of. these cross. plates is made adjust-- able lengthwise of. the rack or laterally of each other in order to adjust the'distance'b'e5 tween adjacent plate removing devices,sothat th'espacingwillconform to difierent size pie trays. Each plate is provided with-a threadediaperture 'to receive the shank of a bolt 21 which passes through an elongated slot web of the rear longi the. under surface of'the. horizontal web of the horizontal beam for thepurpose oflockjustnient. By'fslacking offthe Iholt 21;,-tlie plate 20 to-getheftviththe parts carriedthere removing devices; and when. the adjustment has been niade the bolt 21 "is tightened to fix-the position of the plate duringoperation.

lnillig'ure 2 I have shownthree-o'f the units for delivering the trays, one of which 1 is an portions are journaled end unit and the other two intermediate units, whereas in Figure 3 I have shown sufficlent unlts to simultaneously remove trays receive a spherical bearingmember 26 so that the latter mayhave a universal pivotal'motion within thebracket 23. The brackets23 are each provided with two of the sockets 25 except'that the.

socket as shown in Figure 2.

The bearing member 26 has a longitudinal bore 27 therethroughand through'this pro jects a shaft 28. One end of the shaft has fixed to it a sprocket wheel 29 which bears against one end whereas a collar '30 attached tothe shaft hears against-the opposite end of the mem- V bracketsfateach end of. the machine are only provided with one such of the bearing member 26,,

ber 26 so that the shaft may revolve within the spherical bearing member hutit is pre vented from shifting lengthwise therein. WVhere the brackets 23 are provided with two sockets to receive and hold. two of the spheri-' cal bearing members'26the adjacent shafts 28are slightly," divergent in relation to each other; as shown int-Figure 2,v in, order that the upper. ends of these, shafts may bebrought closetogether. .l Theadjustable plates20 are provided with extensions or brackets. 30d, projecting forwardly of thetop or table mem ber and toward the oven, preferahlya sufficient extent to cause these members'to extend through thelower portions of the door opening 14 of the oven, and to reach. into the oven toa pointadjacent the oven conveyor. On these extensions there are pro-. vided brackets or hearing members 82, therev being three such members for;v each shaft.

-There is connected by universaljoint 33 with each shaft 28. a horizontally extending shaft 3a. which is provided with a peripheral thread 35 extending substantially throughout the shaft member v34.. At inters,

length of each vals; each shaft34 is provided with a reduced and threadle'ss portion 36and these reduced in circular recessesi'n the seve'ralbearing members 32. There are caps 37 attachedby screws to thetops of some of the bearing .members32 to complete the enclosure ofthe reduced portions '36 of the shaft 34, so that the brackets 32 and their caps 37' form journal sockets forth-e reduced portionsf36 of the shaft; and the caps 37 at the-.topzand-sides are adapted-to lie flush ml with thethreaded periphery of the shaft as shown in Figure 2. The cap 37 may beomitted from-thebearing member 32 which projects into the'baking emons oven, as shownin Figure 1 if desired, as the caps applied to the bearing members which remain outside of the oven will sufice to hold the shafts 34 in place. The construetion of the shaft 34 and its connectionwith the shaft 28 is thesamefor-all: of these shafts, so that the foregoing description applies toeach, f

The shafts 28, 34 are all adapted to be revolved a-nd for this purpose I. have shown a motor 38- mounted on amotor support 39 which is itself mounted'on one of the horizontal bars of the frame, and in such position that the shaft of the-motor is inclined to lie approximately parallel with theseveral shafts 28. The shaft of this motor is provided with a sprocket wheel 40a=roundwhich engages an endless chain 41 driven bythe sprocket of the motor; and this chain passes over an idler 42 at one end of the frame-, as shown in Figure 3. This chain passes alternately under-andover the sprocket wheels 29 arranged on the several shafts 28 and the chain 41 engages with the teethof these several sprockets, so; thatadjacent shafts are revolved in relatively: opposite directions, and therefore the shafts 34 common to any given pie plate are revolved in relatively opposite directions. The chain 41 engages with all of thesprockets29- in the manner just described} and. after leaving the sprocket on the extreme right hand shaft, in Figure 3 it extends downwardly to the sprocket on the motor shaft; The chain,. wh-ich is continuous or endless, isoperated whenever the motor is in operation and ittherefore drives all of the sprockets 29 and as these are fixed to the several inclined shafts 28 it drives the shafts34. i

Operation designed to remove simultaneously five rows of ple plates from the traveling oven,-. as

shown in Figure 3, the carriage or table will be positioned adjacent the delivery end of the oven so that the several extended brackets 30a, project through the lower portion of' the delivery openingof the oven, as shown in Figure 1. The several threaded shafts 3.4 extend into the oven, so that they lie in pairs on opposite sides of the path of each line of pie plates 44 as: the latter are conveyed with the hearth 12 of the oven conveyors.

: Preferably, these shafts project into theoven sufficiently so that the pie trays are conveyed between the projecting ends of adjacent shafts, as shown in Figure 1, and so that the pie trays are carried well in between adjacent shafts 34 before the hearth plates begin to turn and to revolve aroundthe pro pelling sprocket 10 of the oven conveyor. The shafts 34 are so positioned that they receive the pie plates in the same horizontal plane in which the plates-arebeing conveyed suitable means. I device is to convey the pie plates. from the through theoven by the conveyor;- -'As,- the shafts are being continually revolved by reason of the propelling action of the sprocket of'the motor which drives the end.-

less chain 41 and which in turn operates on the several sprocket wheelsr29 to revolve the shafts28. As the latter are individually con nected tothe shafts 34the latter'are continually revolvedi, I

The threaded shafts 34 engaging one row of plates are revolved in relatively opposite directions, butthey engage on opposite sides of the sameplates and therefore, assuming that the threads of the shafts 34 are alternately righthand and left. hand threads,

the two shafts which engage the samerow of plates willPpropelthe platesin' the samedirection. As the plates leaverthe oven conr veyor they rest upon and are supported solely by the threaded shafts 34 and as the latter.

are continually revolving their "threaded peripheries cause the' platesto travel: along v on the. shafts from right tole'ft inFi'gure .1.

The plates. are advanced along the shafts 3 4,

passingithrough the discharge opening 14 of table 31 of the carriage andl'fromlthere they may .be moved away by." hand or other :Th'e object ;of the present oven'conveyor out of the oven and onto the carriage while holding them the same horizontal, position in Whichxthey travel a I wh'ile in theoven. By forming. the clamping: Assuming that thepresent. device has been plates 37 flush with the peripheries of the slide over the tops of these. 7 I

It will be apparentthat the shafts 34are adaptedto convey the pie plates continuously and without manually handling from the ,the oven until theyaredeliverediuponfthe point withinthe baking chamber near which the oven conveyor approaches 1 the "sprocket 1'0so that the plates are received upon the shafts 34. while still in a horizontal'position and the plates. are conveyed out of theoven in the same horizontal plane sothat the de liveryof the'pie plateswillcause' no dis-' turbance to'the contents of theseveral plates while the'p ies' are still hot andin-condi-tion requiring delicate handling,

I Each pair of threaded shafts act onthe single line ofpie plates'd'elivered by the oven; conveyor and the; action: of each pair of threaded shafts is the same on each line of pie plates traveling withithe ovenconveyor. Wherethere are five lines of'pie plates'tra'veling on the oven conveyor "therewill be fi've parallel. rowsofplates delivered' by'the sev- V mannerthat they previously engaged the.

' the oven in exactly'the same manner.

' for delivering plates from the oven" but eral rows'or pairsof threaded shafts 34 upon the carriage as shown in Figure 3.

7 It will be apparent from the abovethat I have'provided a'device forautomatically and mechanically delivering thepie trays from the oven conveyor through a discharge open- 'ing of the oven compartment onto a suitable support and in such manner that the pie trays are retained in horizontal position until they are delivered upon the external support or carriage. After the pie'trays have been deplates 20 closer together, thereby reducing the lateral distance between the several threaded sh'afts3fwhich' engage the pie plates of any given row. 1 In other words,'if the shafts 34 have been operating i'npositions so that the shaftsiof eachpair operated say on fourteen inch pie plates and it is desired to adjust them to operate 'on saytwelvednchpie plates, then the plates 20 are shifted in relation to eachother,

sothat the shafts 34 are moved two inches closer than the previous adjustment; The shafts in the newly adjusted positions will then engage the twelve inch plates in thesame fourteen inch plates, delivering them from I have described he present device as used is to be understood that the same device may be used for feeding the plates into the oven; In this case the device will be applied to the feed lend oflthe oven in the same manner inthe samerelation to the oven conveyor as indicated'in Figure 1, but, it will be necessary to reversethe'direction of operation of the motor 38 because in feeding the plates 7 into the even as distinguished from deliver-f ing them'therefrom, the threaded shafts 34L must be revolved in the opposite direction to secure the correct direction of motionor else the threads on the shafts 84 must be formedina'reverse directon. It will be ob- VlOllS'fIOID the above'that the'pres'ent device vmaybe usedeither. for feeding'pie plates or removing themfrom a traveling oven. in describing the device and its uses I desire it to beunderstood that I do not intend to limit myv invention to ;the delivery of pies but to include allfu'ses' ofjtheinvention.

' recti ons.

7 Having described invention, whatfI claim is z 7 I 1 or LA conveyor for conveying individual containers, comprising spaced, parallel,-revolvable shafts having spirals thereon and adapted to receive containers resting on said shafts, a support onto which said shafts are adapted to deliver said containers in 'a horizontal position, shafts for operatingqthe first named shafts, said second shafts beinginclined downwardly from the plane of'said first shafts and connected thereto by uni versaljoints, and means for operating said second shafts to revolve said first mentioned shafts. I Y

A conveyor: for conveying iiidividual containers comprising spaced, revolvable shafts having splrals thereon on which con tainers are adapted to rest and to travel,la

support onto which said shafts are adapte toldelive-r the containers in horizontal position, shafts extending downwardly through I said support and having their upper ends connected with said first shafts by universal joints, and means for operating" said second named shafts to cause'themto revolve said first mentioned shafts whereby the containers will be advanced along the sameonto said i j support. a r V V 3. A conveyor for conveying individual containers including a frame having a sup port to receive containers thereon, co-operat= ing, spaced shafts having spirals thereon on which containers are adaptedto rest 'and to travel, other shafts connected with said first" shafts by universal joints and inclined downs wardly below the planejof said support, piv- V otalbearings below saidsupportfor said sec ond mentioned shafts, and meansfor revolvcontainers, including a frame, shafts having splrals thereon'and arranged to support containers d sposed between said shafts, said frame having a supportfor supporting con .t'ainers in substantially the same horizontal plane as said shafts,other shafts connected with said first shafts by universal. l ints and extending downwardly belowthe plane of said support, sprockets on the lower portions 7 of said second mentioned shafts, a chain'engaging in reverse order with said sprockets,

and means for operating said chain to drive shafts in relatively opposite di the several 5. A conveyor for j conveying individual containers including a frame adapted to be placed ad acent a traveling oven, aplurality of shafts having spiralsth-ereon and arranged in pairs, each, pair ofshaftsbeing adapted to receive, a' row-of containers resting onthe shafts of a pair, o'ther shaftslconnected with l said shafts by universal joints and extend-1 ing said second mentioned shafts forthe pur- V pose of revolving said first shafts to advance containers along the same, v 1

' 4. A conveyor for conveying individual ing downwardly from the plane of said first shafts, sprockets on said second mentioned shafts and an endless chain engaging reversely around said sprockets for operating all of the shafts of said several pairs, and 7 means for operating said chain.

6. A conveyor for conveyingindividual containers including a frame, adapted to be placed adjacent the door of a traveling oven, a plurality of shafts having spirals thereon and arranged in pairs, each pair of shafts adapted to receive a row of containers supported on the shafts of a pair, other shafts connected by universaljoints With said first mentioned shafts, and supporting means rel atively adjustableon said frame in a direction laterally of said shafts, each of said supporting means being adapted to carry some of said first mentioned shafts to vary the distance between the latter.

Signed at the city, county and State of New York, this 4th day of June, 1930.

IRWIN ELLIOTT. 

